


Strangers on a Train

by rowofstars



Series: Once Upon a Ficlet [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Ficlet, Strangers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 10:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8323591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowofstars/pseuds/rowofstars
Summary: For leni-ba who prompted Rumbelle + public transportation.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I do not know so don't ask me. This is a thing that happened in some universe somewhere.

The doors to the subway car opened with a whoosh and a click, and Gold smiled. There she was, his commute buddy, her nose in a book, auburn hair spilling over her shoulders. He entered the train and crossed the car, taking the seat to her left.

A slow smile spread over her face as she read to the end of the page and then tucked her bookmark inside. She looked up and grinned at him, then put the book in her oversized handbag.

“And how was your day?” she asked.

Gold shrugged. “As good as can be expected for a Wednesday. How is your new book?”

She shrugged as well. “It’s not bad so far, a bit of a slow start.”

“Ah.”

They’d been traveling together for the past four months, from the start of the summer until now. At first they just kept ending up near each other, trading customary polite smiles across the aisle. Eventually, he’d lucked out and there was an open space next to her on the ride home. Halfway into the journey she finally broke the silence and that was that. They were commute buddies.

He didn’t know her name and she didn’t know his. What he knew was that she worked for the history department at some university assisting with research, and was grossly underpaid for her efforts. What she knew about him was that he was a lawyer, working primarily on corporate acquisitions.

There were others things of course, books she’d read, movies they both liked, opinions on the goings on of the city. She was an ex-pat too, with something of an overbearing father, a situation he knew entirely too much about. He also knew she was beautiful and kind, smart and almost as dryly sarcastic as he was. They got on quite well on the forty minutes they spent together each weekday, and though he would admit it to no one, he had become very fond of her.

They were quiet for a few minutes as bodies crushed in around them. Gold was thankful the weather had turned cooler last week making the trek home much more tolerable with his suit and coat. The train started moving she sighed, leaning back a bit in the hard plastic seat.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

She gave him a withered look and looked at her hands in her lap. “I’m getting married this weekend.”

“Oh,” he said softly. His eyes darted to the ring finger of her left hand which was surprisingly bare. “Congratulations.”

She nodded, looking up long enough to give him a tight smile. “Thanks.”

Now he knew she was engaged, and every silly notion he’d ever entertained about asking her name, asking where she lived, and asking her to dinner, had evaporated.

He licked his lips and watched as she turned her face away from him. “You, um, you don’t sound very happy about that?”

She shrugged again. “You wouldn’t be either if you knew Garrett.”

Gold frowned. “Then can I ask why you’re marrying him if you don’t even like him?”

She fiddled with the strap of her purse, twisting it in her fingers. “Well, we don’t always get to choose our fate, do we.”

He thought about his son and found that he couldn’t disagree with her. They rode the rest of the way to her stop in silence.

She gave him a more genuine smile as she gathered her things and stood up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Gold nodded. “Have a good evening.”

She exited the train and turned right, and he watched her walk along the platform until the train lurched to a start. Swallowing hard, he tried to ignore the hollow feeling in his gut.


End file.
